Simpert

Who was Simpert?

Saint Simpert was an abbot, bishop, and confessor of the late-8th and early-9th centuries, and was supposedly the nephew of Charlemagne. He was educated at Murbach Abbey in Alsace, where he took the Benedictine habit and was elected abbot. In 778, he was appointed bishop of Augsburg by Charlemagne. He consolidated and strengthened the jurisdiction of his bishopric and lived alternately at Neuburg an der Donau, at Staffelsee Abbey, and at Augsburg.

He rebuilt the Basilica of St. Ulrich and Afra and others. While he was bishop, he remained abbot of Murbach, ruling at the same time diocese and monastery. He died on 13 October 807, and was buried at St Afra's church. Since 1624, he has been a secondary patron of Augsburg, his cultus having been approved in 1468.